Team 7: Deja vu!
by Bico
Summary: The members of Team 7 experience some deja vu when they're forced to take the bell test again... or is it something else, entirely? AU picking up at the beginning of Naruto: part 2.
1. Bell Test

**Forward: This story is basically an experiment into how the characters in Team 7 would react to their past selves and how their past selves would react to who they grew to be. It will begin with what amounts to a novelization of the beginning of Naruto: part 2 and the first Naruto bell test, and in the second chapter is where it will really pick up. I hope everyone likes how I portray the characters, as this is how I see them, and this is, above all, an exercise in character portrayal. Thank you for reading, and please review.**

* * *

** Team 7 Deja vu!**

**Chapter 1: Bell Test**

"Haha. He's certainly cheerful, today, isn't he?" Jiraiya murmured, looking up at his blond pupil, who now stood atop a high post taking in the village of Konohagakure.

"I missed this place!" Naruto shouted. "It hasn't changed one bit!" He put his hands on his hips and looked about excitedly, taking in the familiar sights. One, however, was not so familiar. "Heh, heh, heh. So they've added Tsunade's old mug to the mountain. Ha!" He was so absorbed in his discovery, he didn't even notice the figure sneaking up on him until it was too late...

"You've grown a lot, haven't you Naruto?"

Naruto whirled around, his heart having nearly stopped at the voice coming out of nowhere. It had come from down there, a white haired, masked figure who had his hand raised in greeting as he looked up from his novel. "Wait! Oh yeah!" he shouted as he hopped down to his old teacher. "Haha! You haven't changed at all, Kakashi sensei!" He grinned mischieviously as he rummaged through his backpack. "Hey, hey! I have a present for you, Kakashi sensei!"

"Hm?" the Jounin raised his eyebrow, curious as to what his former student could have gotten him.

A pink haired kunoichi looked fondly out of a window in the Hokage's compound. Her hand touched it longingly as her thoughts drifted back more than two years ago. She hadn't thought of them much recently. She was too busy training under Tsunade. But today, for some reason, she couldn't help but think about that boy. Where was he, now? Was he alright? Was he thinking of her, too? She shook her head. It shouldn't matter, should it?

"Sakura..." her teacher's voice intruded on her introspection, and she turned to the deceptively young looking woman's attention. "That Naruto kid... it seems he's returned to Konoha."

She froze. He was back? Here? A smile came to her face as she walked toward the Hokage. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"You... h-how... th-this is..." Naruto had never seen his old teacher so flustered in all his life. The boy revelled in it. "Whaaaaaat?!"

The boy smiled as Kakashi took the book he had held out to him. "This is the latest Icha Icha series after three years!" he explained. "It's really boring, but you'll still like it... I think!"

Jiraiya, nearby, harumphed at his student's rough critique of his work. Idiot, he thought to himself. A kid like you wouldn't understand the beauty of that book... it's still an unreleased rare item, too.

Immediately engrossed in his new book, Kakashi happily followed the boy and his master into town. More specifically, Naruto was interested in Ichiraku Ramen. After all, he hadn't been there for nearly two and a half years. As they walked, however, Jiraiya took the moment to speak with his best student's only remaining pupil. "As promised, I'll leave Naruto to you from now on." Kakashi looked up from his book, inwardly pleased that he would be able to lead his favorite knuckleheaded ninja again, but also sensing trouble in the toad hermit's words.

"I fear Akatsuki has been growing impatient... they may make an attempt on Naruto soon," he informed the Copy Ninja. "I'm going to head around and gather as much information as I can..." he was cut off by a sudden shout.

"Sa-Sakura chan!" Naruto said in shock as the pink haired kunoichi turned around. At first, she hadn't even recognized the boy who had let loose that excited cheer, but one good look at those cheeks and those eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"Eh? Naruto?" _Incredible_, she thought. Naruto had been a boy in her mind when she'd thought back on him just minutes before... but he was undeniably a man, now. She blushed, wondering if his reaction to her was the same. She decided to find out. "How do I look?" she asked shyly. "Do I look more like a woman, now...?"

"You look fine! You haven't changed at all!" Naruto responded cheerily. Yes, he thought, she looked just as beautiful now as she had when he last saw her. There was no way she could improve on perfection.

"You still don't understand a woman's mind," Sakura deadpanned with a hint of aggravation.

Naruto looked confused at the comment.

Sakura noticed something else at that moment with surprise. "You've... you've gotten taller than me?!" Unbelievable! He had always been the shortest one on the team, and even though she had grown several inches, he was at least a foot taller. Her surprised expression then softened to fondness as she saw him try to measure himself. _Hmmm... _she thought... _Naruto... you've become really strong since I last saw you..._

"Naruto niichan!" a new voice interrupted.

The five gathered ninja turned to the new presence. It was... a... naked woman?! "Oiroke no jutsu!" the shorthaired brunette breathed seductively.

"Ohoho!" Jiraiya cheered, barely containing his nosebleed.

The girl vanished an instant later in a puff of smoke to leave a slightly taller Konohamaru giving his role model a thumbs up. "How was that?!" he boasted. "A real drool of a jutsu, wasn't it?"

"Hehehe..." Naruto smirked with a slightly condescending air. "Konohamaru, I'm sorry but I'm not a kid anymore," he informed the young ninja. "From now on, you shouldn't use that jutsu either."

Sakura's cheeks tinged and she put a hand to her heart, touched by Naruto's blatant show of maturity. _So... _she thought, _Naruto hasn't just matured in appearance... this makes me feel a little sad. You really have become amazing... Naruto. I'm sure you've come back with a lot of great new jutsu, too, right...?_

As if to confirm her unasked question, Naruto clenched his fist with determination. "Such a jutsu is mediocre, Konohamaru! Behold! The new perverted ninjutsu I've been developing!! Here we gooooo!"

"Aha! A new ninjutsu you say," Sakura gushed. She'd known he wouldn't come back empty handed. "A new perv..." Wait... "PERVERTED NINJUTSU?!" she screeched driving her fist into the blond's face. "You idiot!!!" She may have used a bit too much of her enhanced strength with that punch, but he deserved it for leading her on. "I was wrong, you haven't changed one bit!! I haven't seen you for two and a half years and you jump straight into that! Idiot!!" She shook the unresponsive young man angrily, continuing her rant. "What about that wonderful feeling of respect I had for you just now?!! Ahh! As if I could feel sad that I wasn't grown up like you!!"

"Hey, Sakura, calm down," Kakashi said soothingly, honestly a bit worried by her extreme reaction. "Konohamaru here's terrified," he went on, gesturing to the kid hiding behind his leg. To be honest, he thought, I'm a bit terrified...

Tsunade sighed. "Jiraiya..." she addressed her former teammate. "Naruto... has grown more and more like you in these past two years, hasn't he?"

Jiraiya, however, was much too shocked at the young kunoichi's brutal outburst to respond. _That beauty and strength_, he thought,_ It would seem as if you've raised another Tsunade._

The Slug Sage certainly knew what the old man was thinking from looking at his face, and she decided there was little else to be said about that. "...Right. The nostalgia ends here, though. Kakashi."

The jounin snapped his new book closed, albeit with some reluctance. "Well... it has been a while, hasn't it?" The Copy Ninja's two students looked quizzically at him. "From now on," he explained, "The two of you will come with me on team related missions. It's different than before. It's no longer teacher and pupil. Starting today, we're equal Konoha shinobi." He held out two bells. "Well... first, I'm a bit curious as to how you've developed. The rules are the same as when I first met you two. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you will never succeed in getting the bells!"

- - -

"Attack as though you mean to kill or you'll never stand a chance."

Sakura protested, "But... but that's so dangerous!"

Naruto, on the other hand, laughed contemptuously. "You couldn't even dodge an eraser!! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

Kakashi sighed. "Only the weak speak loudly. Now, let's ignore the dunce, and we'll get started on my signal!"

At that word, Naruto snapped. Call him a dunce, would he? Underestimate him, would he? He'd see soon enough that no one underestimated Uzumaki Naruto! He pulled his kunai from its holster and twirled it around on his finger before catching it in preparation to throw. He aimed straight for his teacher, intent on putting the blade right between his cocky eyes. He would have gotten him, too, if he hadn't... suddenly... not been there. Instead, he was behind him, holding the kunai to Naruto's own head.

"Not so fast. I didn't say 'go.'" He looked appraisingly at the blond kid at his mercy. "But at least you struck to kill... so, it seems you've begun to respect me." He grinned under his mask. "Heh, heh, heh... maybe... just maybe... I'm starting to like you three." He ruffled Naruto's hair before letting him go. "And now... ready... steady... GO!!!" With that, the three potential shinobi flew into the trees, and their final test to become gennin had begun.

- - -

Sakura looked around the training area. After Naruto had turned Kakashi's old kunai-to-the-back-of-the-head trick around on him, the jounin had disappeared. She couldn't see him in any direction. If he wasn't anywhere up above, she reasoned... "Below!" She punched the ground and it exploded into a hundred pieces, revealing Kakashi hiding in the rubble.

_Wha... what insane power, _her old teacher thought to himself as he sat in shock among the wreckage. _Godaime... you didn't just teach Sakura medical ninjutsu, did you?_

"Found you," Sakura stated, pleased with herself.

Naruto gazed with pride at his partner. He thought to himself, I should stop playing around in front of Sakura... she could kill me!

Kakashi leapt to the surface, analyzing the Fifth's protege. She could build up the maximum amount of chakra in her fist and release it in an instant, which required extreme chakra control. She had medical ninjutsu, plus that amazing strength... and the fact she was originally a genjutsu type meant she could perhaps surpass Tsunade. "Alright, this time I should also do something on my end."

- - -

"Noooo!" Sasuke shouted as his feet sank into the earth.

Kakashi reemerged from the earth and crouched over the Uchiha. "Shinobi battle technique, lesson number three--ninjutsu. But at least, as you predicted, your performance was head and shoulders above that of your companions."

"Crap!" Sasuke's head cursed as he tried to free the rest of his body from its earthy prison.

"Oh, well," Kakashi said as he left the boy to his struggle. "You know what they say! The nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down, right? Heh, heh, heh..."

"I thought I was so close," the boy sulked. Then he noticed a familiar pink haired kunoichi run by. Hope entered his body once again. She might be annoying and ignorant, but she certainly wouldn't leave him in this predicament. But... what was with that expression? And why was she sweating like that after seeing him?

"Eeeyaagh!" she screamed. "It's Sasuke's head... it's been severed!!!" And she collapsed backward, foaming heavily from the mouth.

"What was that all about?" he pondered.

- - -

"I already knew it," Sakura sighed. "But the Sharingan really is amazing... and not only that, but his seal making speed... it's too fast for me to follow. If we could somehow stop him from using both hands, we could get to the bells."

Naruto grinned. While he was exhausted from fighting straight into nightfall, it was quite a rush. "Yeah... Kakashi sensei is unreasonably strong. He's smarter than Shikamaru... and he has a better sense of smell than Kiba... he has better Sharingan than Sasuke... and better Taijutsu than Thick-brows..."

"But even Kakashi sensei has to have weak point," Sakura argued, a glimmer of hope coming into her face. "If we think it over well..."

Naruto pondered it. "Ah! He has a weak point!" he realized.

"Eh?!" Sakura exclaimed, surprised that he had been able to figure it out before her. "Re... really?!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the training area, Kakashi sat equally exhausted as his students. "Hmm... using the Sharingan this much... if I use it, soon I'll run out of stamina. That's my weakness." He peeked out from his hiding place. "But... their growth is brilliant. Maybe I shouldn't be so cheerful. Maybe I should be on the lookout for signs of how they'll approach." It wasn't more than a few minutes before he smelled the distinct odor of the two ninja. "They're here!" He looked up to see them leaping straight for him. "They have to be joking," he said to himself. "Making a direct attack."

"Now, Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Let's go, Kakashi!" Naruto challenged, and he proceeded to do something that would shock the jounin to his very core.

- - -

"This rocks!" Naruto shouted. "It means all three of us..."

"Are hopeless." Kakashi concluded, quickly killing the three ninja's buzz. "More schooling would be pointless. None of you will ever be shinobi!!!"

"What do you mean 'give up?!'" Naruto demanded. "Give me a break! Okay, so maybe none of us got our hands on one of your stupid bells... but why the Hell should we quit after that?"

"Because," Kakashi explained. "Not one of you has what it takes!"

Sasuke grimaced, his cool exterior breaking down as he came to grips with what this guy was saying. He wouldn't have it. He had to get revenge on that guy. He had to become a ninja no matter what it took. He leaped to his feet and shot straight for the jounin, intent on beating the rank of gennin out of him if he had to, but the white haired scarecrow took him down with one swift move.

"What you are is a trio of spoiled brats..." Kakashi went on.

Sakura squealed in protest. "Don't step on Sasuke! GET OFF OF HIM!"

"Are you trying to make fun of the shinobi with your behavior?" Kakashi growled. "Well, are you? Did you ever stop to wonder for one minute... why you were divided into teams?"

"Uhh... excuse me?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Obviously not," Kakashi answered for them. "So you missed the entire point of the exercise."

"It had a point...!?" Naruto exclaimed in dumbfounded amazement.

Kakashi sighed. "Of course, and that point determines whether or not you would succeed."

Sakura quirked her eyebrow in confusion. "But... you haven't explained what it is!"

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe this."

"Aw, come on, already! Tell us!!!" Naruto pleaded.

"It's... TEAMWORK." the jounin roared.

The three ninja hopefuls sat shocked at the declaration.

"If the three of you had come at me... together... you might have been able to take the bells," Kakashi explained.

"If we were expected to function as a team, why did you only have two bells?" Sakura stomped. "Even if we worked together, one of us still would have had to go without lunch. You're preaching teamwork, but you played us against each other!"

Kakashi remained silent for a moment before responding. "Of course. This task was designed to cause dissension in your ranks."

"What?" Naruto shouted.

"The situation was set up to reveal which of you would set aside you individual interests and propose to the others that you work together for the good of all," Kakashi told them. "Instead of which... you, Sakura, ignored Naruto, who was right in front of you... while you focused your attention on Sasuke, though you didn't know where he was. Naruto tried to do single-handedly what should have been the work of all three! And Sasuke had already decided that the other two just got in his way... and he was better off playing solo." He scoffed. "You are a team! Learn to act as one! Yes, it's necessary for ninja to have individual skills, but... what is even more important is teamwork! Making a play as an individual is bad for the team and exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger. You might as well kill them yourself. Here's an example..." He shift position on Sasuke and held a kunai to the Uchiha's throat. "Sakura! Kill Naruto. Or Sasuke dies."

"What?!" Naruto spazzed. He wasn't entirely sure Sakura wouldn't do it.

"The day could come," Kakashi said, getting off of Sasuke. "When one of you may be taken hostage, and you're forced to make such a choice."

Sakura's shoulders fell in relief. "Give me a heart attack, why don't you?!"

"Why you are on a mission," the jounin went on, "Your lives will always be on the line." He began to walk toward a stone marker. "Look at the marker... all the names on this stone. Heroes of our village. Ninja."

"Wow!" Naruto shouted. "That's it! I just made up my mind! There's where I want my name to go! I'm not going to throw my life away! I want to be like them--a hero!"

Sasuke grunted his indifference.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "But the ones listed here aren't just any heroes..."

Naruto leaned forward expectantly. "Really? What kind of heroes are they?"

Kakashi looked back, but said nothing.

"Come on! Come on!"

"The dead kind," he finally said. "They died in the line of duty."

Suddenly, Naruto didn't feel so sure about getting his name on that stone. At least... not any time soon.

"This is a memorial. It includes the names of my best friends," the jounin explained. "Pay attention! I'm giving you all one last chance. One that will be far more difficult than our last little game with the bells." He turned toward them and instructed, "If you're prepared to continue, you may eat one of the bento boxes. But no sharing with Naruto. He goes hungry."

"Why," Naruto protested.

Kakashi sniffed. "He brought it on himself when he tried to sneak lunch for himself. If either of you feeds him, you fail the test right there." He glowered at the trio and affirmed, "My word is law. Do you understand?" Before they could even begin to answer, he had vanished.

"Hey, this'll be a breeze. I can go without lunch, no problem," Naruto said as his stomach chose that moment to make itself known. And continued to do so. It seemed the world was falling into darkness... as dark as night.

"Here," Sasuke said, offering his lunch to Naruto, mostly because he was finally fed up with the growling.

Shocked, Sakura protested around a full mouth. "Bu... but Sasuke kun, Master Kakashi told us..."

"I'm not worried," Sasuke assured her. "He's probably miles away by now. And we'll all need our strength if we're going to work together to get those bells." He then addressed Naruto. "You're no good to me if you're just going to be a liability."

Sakura was touched by Sasuke's generosity and felt a bit guilty, now. She gulped down the food in her mouth and offered the rest to Naruto. Besides, if he was going to fail for this, she might as well do it, too, right?

Naruto was especially moved by Sakura's kindness. He excepted gratefully.

"Hehe... a ninja should look underneath the underneath," Naruto reminded his master as he held up a bell.

"Right sensei?" Sakura affirmed, holding her own bell along with a "V for victory" sign.

Kakashi frowned at his former students. "Such tactics... unforgivable."

Naruto laughed as the three headed back toward the training ground's clearing. "There was no other way, sensei."

Kakashi sighed, taking the lead. "I suppose applause is in order for those who have grown so wise."

Naruto and Sakura smiled at each other, proud of their accomplishments and impressed with how strong the other had grown.

As the three made it into the clearing, they heard the sound of... very loud eating. Then a high pitched voice shouted, "Oh, no, it's Kakashi sensei!" and another voice, only slightly more masculine, shouted wildly.

Kakashi stood transfixed at the three children in the clearing, one blond tied to the center post. He looked from the pink haired girl to the whisker marked boy and finally to... "Sasuke..."

Naruto and Sakura stopped in their tracks. "Eh?" A feeling of grim hope took them and they raced ahead of their master to take in the sight as well.

Naruto, tied to the post with rice still sticking stubbornly to the corner of his mouth, was the first to say what was on everyone's mind at this point. "What the Hell?"


	2. Getting To Know Ourselves

**Team 7 Deja vu!**

**Chapter 2: Getting To Know Ourselves**

"So, uhh... Kakashi sensei," Naruto said from the post upon which he was tied. "Who are those guys?"

Little Sakura cocked her head as she examined the two ninja Master Kakashi had brought back with him. The girl looked a lot like her mother, but a bit younger and with more... edge to her appearance, certainly. Some previously unknown relative, she speculated. The man had blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks like Naruto... but aside from that, he was nothing like the little brat with whom she had had the misfortune of being partnered. This guy was way too cute.

Kakashi narrowed his single visible eye. "The same could be asked of you. Whoever you are, trying to impersonate my team, you got some outdated information."

"What?" Sakura asked. "It's really us! Listen, don't blame Sasuke for giving Naruto food. He's just too kind hearted to listen to someone starve like that. I mean, you should have heard Naruto. He was just pathetic."

Both Narutos twitched at the insult. The older blond took out a shuriken and announced. "Okay, there's only one way to figure this out for sure." He tossed the weapon at his younger self, and, with a loud thok, the boy was free of his post.

"Oh, hey, thanks..." the boy began, but he was suddenly launched into the air by a swift kick to the rear. "Owww! What was that for?"

Naruto growled at his younger counterpart. "You'd better get ready, you imposter! Kage Bunshin!" He immediately created eighteen copies of himself brimming with chakra.

"Oh, wow," Little Sakura sighed. "Whoever he really is, that guy is so cool."

The older Sakura glared daggers at her younger self. _I can't believe I was so easily impressed_, she thought to herself. Then she shook her head. _No, there's no way I was ever that stupid, 'cause that's not really me, anyway._

Little Naruto landed squarely on his feet and looked with surprise at the shadow clones the older blond had created. "Impossible! I didn't think anyone else knew that trick!" He grinned. "But two can play at that game!" He went through the hand seals and ended up with easily twice the number of clones the older Naruto had created. "Let's see how you handle this!"

The eighteen Narutos easily zipped through the thirty six plus younger clones, poofing each into nonexistence as the original Naruto grasped his true counterpart by the nape of the neck and lifted him into the air, a kunai to his back. "Ha, nice try! You might have fooled anyone else with the fact that you know Kage Bunshin, but I can see right through you. I was never as weak as that!"

"Actually," Kakashi said, surveying the scene with his now uncovered Sharingan. "You were that weak at one point."

"Huh?" the older Naruto asked, dumbfounded.

"I can tell, now," the jounin went on, "That these are no illusions. These three indeed look like the younger forms of you two and Sasuke... whether this means that they are somehow from the past or merely physically altered... I can't say right now."

The older Naruto let his younger self go. "So... you're saying this might actually be me?"

"It certainly looks that way," Sakura said, coming to his side. "You know, I never realized it before, but you were kinda cute when you were twelve." She patted the young Naruto on his head and he blushed fiercely.

Little Sakura glared at her older self. "Well, you certainly can't be me. I would never say such a thing. And that guy doesn't look a thing like Naruto." _Shannaro! He's way too hot! _her inner self declared.

"Well, I'll admit," Sakura said, "He does look much more mature, now." Naruto's face was the picture of pride at the compliment. "But I can assure you it's only in looks." She giggled at the way her teammate's face fell.

Kakashi went to each of the three and studied their features, looking for the tell-tale signs of surgical alteration. Finally satisfied, he addressed his two students. "Well, even a genius like Kabuto isn't good enough to pull something like this off. Unless we're dealing with a med-nin of a calibur never before seen in the world, these three are definitely... Team 7."

Young Naruto scoffed. "Well, I could've told you that."

The older Naruto and Sakura slumped onto the ground. "Geez, I really don't need this kind of trouble right now. After that bell test, I'm so tired, too."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, and it's still hours before the sun comes up. Maybe we should just camp out here and rest for a while before going back to the village."

Sakura grimaced. "Why don't we just go home and sleep in a nice, soft bed?"

"Well, I haven't been to my apartment in a couple years, and it's not really set up for three extra people. I doubt your parents would just accept you bringing in three kids with you. And as for Kakashi sensei..."

"My house is especially unsuitable for three twelve year olds," the jounin finished.

"We can't just leave them wandering around like this," the blond asserted.

"It was noon last time we checked," the young Naruto protested. "We're not tired at all."

Kakashi sighed. "Well, it looks like you have little choice, they've already started setting up." Indeed, the two ninja had already set up sleeping bags, a campfire, and makeshift tents by the time he had finished his sentence.

The six ninja settled around the fire, the older Naruto holding a spit of marshmallows over it.

"Where on earth did you get those?" Sakura asked.

"Heh, heh," the blond chuckled. "I brought some along just in case. Here," he held the bag up to her. "They're beef ramen flavored."

"EEEWWW!" both Sakuras squealed. "That's so gross!"

The younger Naruto, however, was quite thrilled. "Hey, toss some over my way!"

"At least someone appreciates my refined palate," Naruto said as he tossed the bag to the other.

"That's just proof that he's you," Sakura said. "No one else would possibly like that crap."

The younger Sakura nodded in agreement. "You've got that right. Naruto has no taste at all..."

"Maybe that explains why he likes you so much..." Sasuke muttered under his breath. Fortunately for him, neither Sakura heard the comment, though the young Naruto did. He simply shot his rival a nasty look and continued to ignore him.

"But I'm not so convince you guys are really our future selves," the young kunoichi went on. "I mean, what's with that hair?"

The older Sakura touched her short 'do self consciously. "Wh-what's wrong with my hair?"

"I would totally never get my hair cut like that," Little Sakura said. "Everyone knows long hair is the way to go... isn't that right, Sasuke kun?" She playfully tossed the pink strands to lightly whip the Uchiha across the cheek. He winced with annoyance, but continued to ignore her.

The older Sakura growled deep in her throat. How dare her younger self insult her like that? And to be so blatantly vain... was she ever really that shallow?

"Ummm," Little Naruto stammered. "I... I think short hair is cute on a girl. Especially on you, Sakura."

The older Naruto blushed at his counterpart's childish attempt to flirt. He might not have much class when it came to girls now, but that was pretty lame even to him. Of course, the young Sakura was quite oblivious to the compliment.

"Well, no one expects you to now anything about being refined or anything," the pink haired kunoichi shot back. "I mean, without anyone to raise you right, you're hardly better than an animal when it comes to society. That's why no one in the village wants to hang around with you."

Sasuke's eye twitched at the comment, and the two Narutos flinched. The older Sakura, on the other hand, stood straight up, walked over to Little Sakura, and gave her a solid backhand across the face, sending her flying several feet... almost out of the clearing, in fact. When the girl struggled up to all fours again with tears in her eyes, she found her mouth was bleeding profusely. "Wh-wh-what was that for?!" she whimpered.

Sakura's eyes burned with anger. "Don't... don't you ever talk about Naruto like that again! You IDIOT!!" Shaking with rage, she turned and stomped off into the woods, occasionally uprooting a tree with a powerful punch.

The younger Naruto rushed over to his teammate and offered a handkerchief to wipe the blood off of her. "Aw, geez, Sakura. I think a few of your teeth might have been knocked loose. Are you in much pain? Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"G-get off, Naruto," the girl said shakily. "I'll be fine. Wh-what was that all about, anyway?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well... every one of us has certain things in our past we regret. Things we did... ways we acted. I think Sakura may just have more of those than most."

The younger Sakura looked a bit confused.

The older Naruto got up and said, "I'm going to see if... um... Sakura san is alright. I don't want her to hurt herself... again." With that, he walked off in the direction his teammate had gone.

Sakura, meanwhile, finished wiping herself clean of the blood and did her best to staunch the bleeding in her mouth. Naruto was right about some teeth being loosened by that blow. She didn't think she had that kind of strength in her. She looked at Naruto guiltily. Now that she thought back on her words, they hadn't been very kind at all. She'd thought she was going to try to be better to the loudmouthed blond, even if he did annoy her sometimes. After all, she knew it hadn't felt good to be talked down to by Sasuke. Not that her and Naruto's relationship was anything like her and Sasuke's. She and Sasuke were Meant To Be, after all. But still...

"Um... I think I'm going to go... for a quick walk," she said to the others. "Clear my head."

Naruto jumped. "Do you... do you want me to go with you? You took a hard hit, and you might pass out."

"I'll be fine," the kunoichi said irritably. "Just... I need to be alone for a moment, okay?"

- - -

"Sakura? Are you okay?"

The pink haired kunoichi sniffled and wiped her eyes before turning to the blond ninja who approached her. "Naruto... I'm sorry. I overreacted, I know."

Naruto scratched the back of his head bashfully. "Umm... yeah, a little. I guess I should thank you for standing up for me, though."

"Ugh... I just couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. I mean... my mouth... I guess." She held her head as if she were developing a migraine. "I dunno... when I think back to those times, I can remember how I felt about you. How I thought you were annoying and always got in my way. I guess I never really realized how unfairly I treated you. Or how cruel some of the things I said were. Seeing it come from her... now... it just really pissed me off, I guess."

The blond ninja sat beside the girl. "Well, yeah... it was always kind've hard knowing you didn't see me as important... especially when you meant so much to me." He blushed. "I've always wanted everyone to acknowledge me... but I really wanted you to think well of me the most."

Sakura looked away, embarrassed. "Naruto... I really do think you're a great ninja. You'll definitely be Hokage, someday. I believe that. And..." she smiled and turned back to him. "You're the best friend I could have." She laughed. "Well, I guess there's Ino, too. Maybe I have a thing for blonds?"

"Oh, do you?" Naruto asked slyly.

Sakura pouted and socked the young man on the arm lightly... which was enough to cause a bruise, actually. "You know what I meant. You really have spent too much time with Ero Sennin!"

Naruto shrugged the comment off. "Maybe so..." he fell silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. Almost at random, he spoke again. "I think there's something I should tell you."

"Hm?" Sakura turned toward him, curious.

The blond ninja's face took on an almost guilty expression. "Listen... do you remember the day we got our team assignments?"

"Yeah... I remember that very well. I tried to get Sasuke to eat lunch with me that day," she recalled. "He was really nice to me at first... but then... then I said something about you being an orphan, I guess. He told me to shut up... and that I was annoying." She frowned. "I can understand why he said that, now. I was pretty stupid."

"Nah," Naruto said. "No secret that I'm an orphan. Maybe if I had parents, I wouldn't have been such a louse." He shrugged. "Maybe it explains why I did what I did that day."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"When you first met Sasuke... when you were sitting on that bench, looking so lonely... that was me," he admitted.

"What?"

Naruto sighed. "I was using henge to impersonate Sasuke. I'd ambushed him earlier and tied him up just so I could get closer to you. It was really selfish... but I didn't mean for us to almost... well... you know..."

Sakura shook her head. "I... I can't believe it."

"I know, it was crazy..."

"No, I mean I really can't believe it," Sakura said. "I mean, how could you have tied Sasuke up like that? How did you use henge so well? And... how... how..." _How could you have been so smooth_, she asked herself.

Naruto cleared his throat. "Well, I don't know if it would prove anything, but..." he formed a few hand seals and transformed into Sasuke. It wasn't quite the Sasuke he had made back then. Definitely a bit older looking and garbed in the black outfit he had worn at the Chunin Exam finals, but it was unmistakably Sasuke. Then he got up and leaned against a nearby tree, making bedroom eyes at her.

"You have such a noble brow," he murmured seductively. Grinning wider as he thought of something else to ad lib, he went on, "So charming... I could kiss it."

Sakura blinked. Then her face contorted as if she were trying to hold back tears.

"He-hey, Sakura... I didn't mean anything by... d-d-don't cry or anyth--" Naruto stammered fearfully as he saw the girl double over with her face in her hand, shaking visibly. Then, to his great confusion, she burst into a fit of laughter.

"Omigawd! That was so great!" She gasped between convulsions. "Wait... wait... do the 'I'm an avenger' thing!"

"Ummm... okay..." the boy acquiesced hesitantly. Taking his role seriously, however, he settled into a classic "cool" pose, creating henge curse marks, and said harshly. "Remember, Sakura... I'm an avenger. Bitch!"

The pink haired kunoichi could hardly contain herself as she pounded on the earth, making small craters with her fist, while she clutched her stomach, aching from her uproarious guffawing. "Oh... oh, wow... that's great..."

Naruto, still a bit bewildered by his teammate's reaction, but becoming quite pleased with himself, went for the kicker. This time he created a shadow clone and transformed it into Temari as he had last seen her after the failed attempt to rescue Sasuke. Temari unhooked her gigantic fan from her back and unveiled the three tomoe. She then bit her thumb and dragged the blood across her fan. "Now," Temari shouted. "Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance!" She waved the fan at Sasuke. "I summon you, my uchiwa no itachi!" Suddenly, another Kage Bunshin appeared in a puff of smoke which had already used henge to transform into a perfect replica of Sasuke's brother, Uchiha Itachi.

The clone Itachi puffed himself up, looking like Iruka about to blow, and shouted, "You lack hate, foolish little brother!"

Naruto as Sasuke shrieked and curled into a fetal position. "Oh noes, whattle I do?!" he cried.

Sakura froze, her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open with a half smile on her face. She clutched her heart rigidly and sucked in a loud, gasping breath. "Oh... Naruto... stop... you're... killing... me!" She collapsed theatrically.

"Sakura!" Naruto dispelled his clones and leapt to his teammate's aid. "Don't worry Sakura, I can save you! After all," he transformed into a familiar white haired jounin, "I won't let anyone die on my watch..." He leaned his ear close to listen for the kunoichi's breathing. "Hmmm... can't hear anything... now to feel for a heartbeat." He began to lower his hand toward the girl's left breast.

Sakura grabbed his hand before he got there, and smirked up at him. "I think you've got that backward... _sensei_."

"Silly me," the Kakashi wannabe laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess I got lost."

"Liar," Sakura laughed, pushing the disguised Naruto onto his butt, which cause him to break the illusion. The girl giggled lightly. "I guess all those pranks you used to pull had a certain theatrical advantage, huh? You could be your own play."

Naruto chortled at that. "I dunno if it was so much the pranks. I didn't do too many impressions..."

"Why?"

Naruto sobered suddenly. "Well... let's not talk about that."

"Okay," Sakura recanted. "But stay here with me for awhile, okay?"

"... Okay, Sakura chan."

- - -

Sasuke ignored the dunce as he went into the woods to take a leak. This gave him ample time to ask Kakashi a question that had been eating at him. "Kakashi sensei... where am I?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up from his book. It was rather surprising that he could read by the dim light the fire cast, but apparently he was intent on making the most of his time awake. "In the village of Konohagakure... or rather on the outskirts of it... in Fire Country."

Sasuke scowled. "That's not what I meant. I mean, Naruto and Sakura's future selves are here... so where am I?"

Kakashi looked away for a moment. "Your future self... is around."

"Did I fail the test?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Eh?"

Sasuke gave the jounin a hard glare. "Only two were supposed to pass the bell test, right? Was I the one who was sent back to the academy?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No... no, you passed the test just as the other two did."

"Then why am I not here... with my team?" the Uchiha inquired.

The older man sighed. "Sasuke kun... it's not always a good thing to know the future."

Sasuke growled under his breath. "That's not an answer..." he stopped when Little Sakura emerged from the trees. She looked a bit more out of it than normal. "What's wrong with you?" the boy asked gruffly.

The girl looked at her comrade strangely. "Nothing, Sasuke kun. Umm... do you know where Naruto kun is?" She scanned the clearing.

"I'm right here, Sakura chan!" Naruto said, walking out from behind a tree and zipping up his pants. "What'd you need?"

Sakura's eyebrows crinkled up at the sight of him. "Oh, it's nothing really. Um..." she walked up to him with a very odd grimace plastered to her face, and Naruto was afraid at first that she was going to hit him. The fact that her hand was clenched in a trembling fist and rising was a clue, too. Her hand shot forward and Naruto winced. However, after a moment, he opened his eyes to Sakura plopping her hand onto his shoulder. "Naruto... you're not such a bad guy, I guess."

"Um," the blond muttered, a bit confused. "Thanks?"

The pink haired kunoichi sat down on one of the sleeping bags and lay down in it. "I think I'll take this opportunity to rest, even if it's only afternoon by our clocks. There's... there's probably no need to wait up on our future selves. I don't think they'll be coming back for awhile."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and put his book away, preparing for a good morning's rest.


	3. The More Things Change

**Author's Note: Sorry about this taking a long time and such... I had a way too much stuff to do for finals, and I have no Internet at home... so... now I can do stuff again, presumably. Also, I hope the whole "codename" thing doesn't confuse anyone... I find it fits the story and it's easier to type "Ume" rather than "Sakura's younger self" over and over again. Just remember:**

**Naruto :: Kayaku**

**Sasuke :: Saizo**

**Sakura :: Ume**

**Team 7 Deja vu!**

**Chapter 3: The More Things Change...**

* * *

Sakura squinched her eyes. They were burning red, like a bright light was being shone right in them. 

"Sakura chan," an older man's voice said softly. "It's time to wake up..."

Grumbling, she pulled her blanket over her head, hoping her father would take a hint and let her sleep another hour or so. He was always thinking up annoying ways like this to rouse her from peaceful slumber. The bastard. She was somewhat surprised when she found that the blanket that had been at her side was quite a bit heavier than she'd thought it would be. And it was starting to move. And it was snoring. "Kyaaa!"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin. "Wha, huh, eh?!" He looked frantically about until his eyes came to rest on Sakura. "H-hey, Sakura chan, what was that about?"

"Wh-what do you mean 'what was that about?'" Sakura growled. "You were lying on top of me!"

"To be fair, Sakura chan," Kakashi said, making his presence known to the two teens, "You were the one who pulled him over you."

The two ninja took in the sight of their old teacher and the past Team 7 standing about. Kakashi looked unenthusiastically amused at the ordeal, Sasuke looked aloof and condescending as usual, and the young Naruto and Sakura looked a bit embarrassed.

"Ah, that's right," Sakura said. "We were talking for so long and it was so late... I guess we must have just passed out."

"Alright," Kakashi sighed. "But, you know, if you ever need me to talk to you about the birds and the bees..."

"Kakashi sensei!" both Sakura's shouted angrily, giving him a much deserved boot to the head.

"I'm not that easy!" the older kunoichi shouted.

"Like I would give it up to _Naruto_," the younger growled. _Now maybe if it were Sasuke kun_... Inner Sakura crowed.

The two Sakuras stopped and glared at each other for a moment. However, after assessing the situation, both decided it better to ignore the other. They turned their backs to one another theatrically and stomped away.

"Yes... well..." Kakashi groaned, rubbing his forhead. "I'll meet up with you three kids at Tsunade's in five minutes. Three out of time shinobi can't just go waltzing around Konoha, and she knows just about every method of disguise in the ninja world."

"Sure thing, Kakashi sensei!" little Naruto shouted. Then he scratched his head. "Who's Tsunade and where is her place?"

Kakashi looked toward his older students meaningfully. "Do be sure they aren't late."

"Will do, sensei," Sakura acknowledged dutifully.

Tsunade stared in complete shock at the three younger versions of Team 7. "S-Sakura chan... what... what's happened to you?"

"Eh?" the young Sakura asked. She had no idea who this woman was in the Hokage's office, but apparently she knew her. "Um... new... hairstyle?"

Tsunade glared accusingly at her. "No... you..."

Sakura cringed, wishing Kakashi were here. They had actually gotten here in six minutes due to young Naruto nearly blowing their cover by shouting for Iruka, but the white haired jounin was yet to be seen. This could get really bad if the ample proportioned woman took them for intruders like older Naruto and the others had originally. "R-r-really, Tsunade sama... it's not what you think..."

"Don't you lie to me, Sakura chan!" Tsunade growled. "You... you've discovered an age defying jutsu even more formidable than my own!" Tears poured from her eyes as she chewed inconsolably on a handkerchief. "I'm... I'm so proud..."

Sakura sighed in relief at the more fortuitous misconception. However, her ire was raised upon the blonde Hokage's comment that her breasts had shrunk along with her. _Shannaro!!_ Inner Sakura shouted in dismay at the older woman.

"But, Naruto," Tsunade said soberly to the young blond. "While I commend you on also performing such an envious jutsu, I must say that creating a clone to look like Sasuke is quite insensitive to Sakura chan. I'd think you would know better after what happened."

"Huh?" Naruto asked. "But I didn't..."

"Hello, everyone," Kakashi greeted the four as he entered, reading his Icha Icha Tactics book. "Sorry I'm late, I had to stop and help an old lady out of a tree."

"Liar!" the members of Team 7 scolded.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Kakashi? What are you doing here? Maybe you can explain this."

The jounin bowed and admitted that he could, and requested a great favor of the Fifth Fire Shadow.

"You sure it was a good idea just leaving them there like that?" Sakura asked Naruto.

The blond grinned. "Well, Kakashi _should_ be there to help out... but even if he isn't... it will still be amusing to hear the results of the meeting."

The kunoichi rolled her eyes, but had an amused smirk on her face as well. "You're such a bonehead."

Naruto laughed at that. "Man," he sighed, changing the subject. "We've both gotten pretty good. It's great we managed to get those bells." He grinned. "Maybe I've gotten stronger than Kakashi sensei!"

"Don't be so cocky," Sakura chided him. "You know you wouldn't have won without me."

"You _were_ a big help..." the blond admitted before his stomach rumbled. "Oh! We haven't been home or even to the Ichiraku Ramen, yet."

"I am pretty hungry, now that you mention it," Sakura said. "I mean... after all that training."

Naruto grinned foxily. "Hey, Sakura chan, since we're both on our own, I guess it's a da--"

"Okay, but it's your treat!" the kunoichi demanded before he could finish. Naruto mourned his Gama purse. "Well, what are we waiting for, I'm famished!" Sakura said, grabbing the blond by the arm and dragging him in the direction of Naruto's favorite ramen stand. The two finally reached the stand and sat for a nice big bowl of ramen. No sooner, had their noodles been delivered, however, when Kakashi came in with three unknown genin.

"Well, I can't say I'm too surprised to see you here," Kakashi said as he shuffled in. "This was the first place he wanted to go, too," he patted a genin with spikey black hair on the head.

"Yeah," the boy said, his onyx eyes bright with glee. "Ichiraku is my favorite spot." He pulled on his coat, which was black with orange lining that covered an all-black outfit. "How do you like the new clothes? A little too dark for my taste, but..."

Naruto growled. "Hey, kid, why'd you have to go and interrupt my date with Sakura?"

The boy looked shocked. "A date? With Sakura?" Tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm... I'm so _sorry_!"

"A date?" the female genin scoffed skeptically. She flipped her long, black tresses streaked with red-violet highlights haughtily and stared daggers at the black haired boy with cold violet eyes. "That's ridiculous! I would never go on a date with you. Not in three years and not in a hundred."

Sakura looked warily at the slightly gothic-looking girl. She was wearing a black sports bra and a tiny wine colored vest that covered no more skin than the bra. Her black miniskirt rode low, too, so her slightly pudgy stomach was in full view. Everything else was "covered" with fishnet sleeves and leggings, ending in black gloves and sandals, respectively. "Um... are you... Chibi Me?"

The girl folder her arms defensively over her chest. "Umm... my name is... 'Fuyuno Ume.'"

Sakura nodded. Tsunade must have given them some kind of disguise and codenames so they wouldn't be recognized by anyone. Of course, she could have given Sakura's younger self something a bit less revealing, but the boy she assumed was Naruto's counterpart didn't seem to be minding.

"H-hey, Saku... I mean, Ume chan, you wanna go on a da--" the same boy asked.

"_No!_" Ume screeched, obviously horrified at the suggestion.

"So what's your name?" Naruto asked himself.

"Oh!" the black haired boy shouted, recovering quickly from rejection. "The old lady said from now on I'd be called 'Tatsumaki Kayaku!'"

Sakura glowered at her teacher's choice. She sure wasn't being very creative. First changing "Spring Cherry Blossoms" to "Winter Plum Blossoms," and now going from whirlpool to tornado and from something one puts on ramen to... something else one puts on ramen. Hopefully Sasuke's name would be a little less obvious.

The boy in question was obviously the sullen one playing with his shoulder length white hair as if mourning its flattened condition. He was wearing something very similar to Kakashi's old ANBU uniform: a black, sleeveless body suit and white vest along with long black gloves and white armguards. And, of course, he had Kakashi's classic mask. The jounin placed his hand on the boy's head and said cheerfully, "Meet my long lost nephew, 'Hatake Saizo.'"

"Oh, she just stopped trying right there, didn't she?" Sakura blurted.

Saizo slumped and sighed heavily.

At that moment, two familiar figures entered the ramen stand. "Come on, no one I know but Naruto ever eats here, and he's not been here for..." Shikamaru stopped in his tracks as he saw the collection of people behind the curtain. "... N-Naruto! Is that really you?"

"Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

Temari, who had entered with the lazy chuunin, had at first looked around nervously at the various ninja, but then she looked shocked at the blond ninja before her. _This guy... that runt?_ He had certainly changed drastically in her opinion. Certainly not for the worse.

"Did you just come home, then?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, I just came back yesterday," the young man responded.

The wolftailed boy laughed. "So has any of your idiocy left you? Have you changed? Well?"

"No," Sakura blurted. "He hasn't changed at all."

"Ah... really?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto slumped in his chair. "Sakura chaaaaaaaaan!" he protested. However, he wasn't brought low too long as the next moment he had turned to Shikamaru and whispered connivingly, "So, are you on a date, too?"

The chuunin was surprised at that comment. _So that's it... I wouldn't have thought those two would be dating..._ He mentally shook himself off that as he had another matter to attend. "That's not it," he said in response to the actual question.

Temari, who had been within earshot (though most of the other patrons could also hear Naruto's quite unninjalike stage-whisper), stammered, "You're joking. Why would I go out with such a..." she paused and switched gears. "There's a Chuunin Exam soon. I'm just going back and forth between the Sand and the Leaf for meetings."

"And it's troublesome," Shikamaru sighed overdramatically. "But I've become an examiner, so... I was told to go and see off the messengers from the sand."

"'Messengers?'" Ume asked. "But there's only one of he--"

"Shhh!" Shikamaru said, waving her silent.

Naruto didn't notice as he gazed away wistfully. "A Chuunin Exam? Brings back memories..."

"Yeah!" Shikamaru exclaimed cheerfully. "And Naruto, what are you planning?"

"What do you mean?" the blond asked.

"Well, it's a Chuunin Exam..." the young man explained. "The only one from our class who hasn't become a chuunin is you."

Naruto was stunned into silence for a long moment while his comrades stared at him. Then both Naruto and Kayaku shouted a long, bewildered, "EHHHHHHHHHH?!!!"

"How could I---you, not be a chuunin yet?!" Kayaku shouted.

Naruto ignored him and turned to Sakura, realizing what Shikamaru's statement meant. "Then! Then! You're a chuunin, too, Sakura?"

"Yep!" the pink haired kunoichi grinned whilst flashing the v-sign.

"Plus," Shikamaru continued. "Neji from the class above us, Kankurou of the sand, and Temari here are already jounin."

"Huhhhhhh?!" shouted a thoroughly shocked Naruto. Something else occured to him, though. The two sand siblings were jounin, but their younger brother, who was much stronger... "Hey. Then Gaara! What about Gaara?"

Shikamaru and Temari exchanged nervous glances. He wasn't going to like this very much. "Well," the chuunin began. "You know how you've always had that dream of yours..."

"You mean the one involving becoming Hokage?" Naruto said, being pretty sure the other ninja wouldn't be referring to his other dream, and certainly hoping, too, as Sakura would probably injure him greatly if that were ever brought into the open.

"Well..." Temari continued. "After my father died and Gaara... mellowed... it was decided that he should become... the... next Kazekage."

Naruto clutched the bar for dear life. He couldn't believe that the kid he'd fought way back during the Chuunin Exams, and actually matched, had already become the Kage of his village. The container of the Ninetails still had a long way to go.

"So what about this Gaara guy? How strong must he be?" Kayaku demanded.

Kakashi answered for him. "He was undoubtedly the strongest of competitors in the first Chuunin Exam in which Team 7 took part. Sasuke managed to severely wound him before the match was interrupted by the Sand and Sound villages. Afterward, Naruto managed to save Sasuke from a fatal blow and defeat him... barely."

"Wow," Kayaku murmured. Then he turned angrily to Naruto. "Well?! Why aren't you Hokage, yet?!"

Naruto sniffled. "I'm sorry... if only it wasn't for that damned Akatsuki and stupid Itaa... ah--" he stopped and looked warily at the disguised Uchiha. "Ummm... it's because I was training with Ero sennin. He's a legendary ninja, and I'm now his protegé!"

"Oh, well I guess that's okay, then," Kayaku said.

"Umm," Shikamaru mumbled. "I think we'll be going now..." he led Temari hastily away from the ramen stand as the other ninja were distracted. "C'mon," he whispered to her. "I know this other great place that _no one_ would go to..."

"Why don't I like the sound of that..." Temari grumbled.

"Um," Sakura said, "I think I should be going, too. I have to help Tsunade shishou with some things."

"Yes," Kakashi concurred. "I should be going as well. Saizo, Ume, Kayaku: come with me." With that the jounin and his three students exited, followed closely behind by his chuunin former student.

Naruto sat there confused. "Well... guess I'll have to finish up alone..."

A figure lifted the flap at that moment and entered. "Hey, Naruto kun. I heard you were back in town."

Naruto's face lit up. "Iruka sensei!"

"So, you just have to climb this tree without using your hands. That should improve your chakra control greatly," Kakashi finished explaining to his students. He stopped the young Sakura, though. "Not you, Ume chan. I already know your control is excellent. I have another task for you."

The two boys, then, made their first attempt to climb their trees. The result was much as Kakashi expected. Sasuke put too much power into it while Naruto held back too much just as the first time his former students had attempted it in the Land of Mist. The result was the same. They landed on their butts.

"Kayaku," Kakashi said to the young fox container. "I have a tip for you which will allow you to improve much faster."

The young Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Hmmph. Looks like he'll need it more than me."

"You wouldn't be able to use it anyway, Saizo," Kakashi said. "This training technique is something only a ninja like Naruto can use. Perform the Kage Bunshin." Kayaku complied, creating a single clone. "Now, I want you to close your eyes while your clone continues to watch." After the boy once again obeyed, he formed the hand seal of the tiger, the boar, and then the rooster. "Now dispell the jutsu. What hand seals did I just form?"

Kayaku immediately responded, "Tora, Ousu-buta, Tori... how... how did I know that?"

"Your Kage Bunshin will pass on its experience to you once it is dispelled. Therefore, if you train with one hundred clones, you will learn one hundred times faster than you would normally," Kakashi stated.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh, wow, that's cool!"

"But, sensei," Ume protested. "Those kind of Kage Bunshin are jounin level techniques. He couldn't keep it up for more than a few minutes!"

"A normal ninja couldn't. However, Kayaku has more stamina than even me. He could keep it going for hours if he chose," Kakashi said.

Ume looked dumbfounded at Naruto. "Really?" She hadn't known her Naruto was so strong. It was no wonder he managed to do as well as he did in Kakashi's test even with the worst chakra control in the class.

"Alright!" Kayaku shouted, creating one hundred clones as his teacher had suggested. "Let's get going!" All the clones rushed toward seperate trees, running up them with all due speed. The crashing of one hundred bums on the ground resounded soon thereafter.

"Dunce," Sasuke muttered. However, he was a bit worried. If he wasn't careful, the dunce would catch up to him. Even a moron could do so if he had four days worth of training for every hour he had.

"Come now, Ume. I'm going to drop you off with Hokage sama. You'll be able to learn more from her and Sakura," Kakashi said.

The disguised younger Sakura watched diligently as her older self and the Hokage worked. She noted the precise use of chakra, and Tsunade occasionally directed comments about how one was to go about performing a particular medical jutsu. The young ninja committed every word to memory. After several hours went by, the three ninja were surprised to have a visit from Kayaku.

"Eh? Aren't you supposed to be training, Naruto?" Ume asked irately.

The disguised boy nodded. "That's why I'm here Saku--I mean... Ume chan. Ummm... I was kinda wondering if you could give me some tips on how to climb the tree?"

The dark haired girl turned to her companions.

"Well?" Sakura prodded. "Aren't you going to tell him? It's a compliment to your skills that he would ask your opinion. How about obliging?"

"Uh, well... okay..." the young girl conceded. She explained how she normally prepared herself for the task of tree climbing, detailing how he should breathe, how he should feel to be in an alignment conducive to free chakra flow, and other such simple things that would normally seem so trivial as to be overlooked. However, Ume insisted, all these factors together could make or break one's chakra molding ability.

"Thanks, Ume chan," Kayaku said. He made a hand seal and poofed out of existence.

"Wha...? A clone?" Ume exclaimed.

"So that's it!" the amassed Naruto clones all suddenly yelled out at once. They began to try out their tree climbing with a new determination. Many suddenly found themselves many meters higher than they had been going.

_Dammit!_ Sasuke thought, looking at the clones' progress. _Some of them have already surpassed me! The last time he dispelled the jutsu, though he passed out from the strain, he went from a meter off the ground to merely a meter from my highest mark... if that's going to be his normal progress, he'll be to the top before I manage to get to the branches._ His eyes set with determination. _I can't let myself fall behind. If I can't stay ahead of this dunce, I'll never be able to match _that guy

Soon enough, Kayaku had to dispell his Shadow Clones, and the mental strain knocked him on his back. Due to the Kyuubi's healing abilities, however, he only stayed down for a half hour before he was ready to go at it again.

"Naruto," Saizo said to the boy before he had a chance to perform his Kage Bunshin once again. "You sent a clone to ask Sakura about this, and your clones' abilities improved by leaps and bounds. Tell me... what did she tell you?"

Kayaku looked into his rival's eyes. He could tell the young man was doing his best to squelch his pride in order to even ask the advice of his rival. "No way. If you want to know, why don't you ask Sakura, yourself?" He knew the Uchiha would never consent to that. It took all his effort to look for advice in his rival, but there was no way he would lower himself to asking the Haruno girl, who he privately believed had no business being a ninja even if she had memorized the code. That made her nothing more than a fangirl in his eyes. While the young Naruto had told his rival to ask her partially because of this and didn't want the Uchiha to get any more advantages on him, he also partially wished the other would take him up on his advice. After all, he knew the pain Sakura felt when he refused to acknowledge her. He'd felt the same pain for as far back as he could recall. It somewhat irked him how stuck up Sasuke could act sometimes. It served him right.

And so the training continued into the evening, both boys wearing themselves down to exhaustion. It wasn't long before Sakura and her younger self finished their duties and came along to see how the two were progressing. Both were surprised at what they saw. One hundred Kayakus graced one hundred treetops, gazing peacefully up at the stars. At the bottom of his tree, Sasuke glared murderously at his rival.

"I'm not through, yet!" Saizo growled, dashing up the tree. He managed to make it three fourths of the way up before his foot slipped and he began to tumble to the ground. His stamina was exhausted and he didn't have the presence to control his fall. If he landed he would surely be severely injured or worse.

Fortunately for Saizo, Sakura was already on it, and plucked him from midair. "Hey, kid," she said. "You shouldn't yourself too hard. You'll hurt yourself."

The white haired boy frowned and averted his eyes in embarrassment. "I won't fail," he said simply.

The pink haired kunoichi huffed. "That's fine, but you have to be patient about it." She set him on the ground. "Here, you need treatment if you're going to be walking anywhere, tonight." Her hands glowed and she sent her healing energy into the boy. While she worked, she looked into the canopy and called out, "Hey, Na--Kayaku. Come on down from there, okay?"

The clones vanished leaving the original Naruto, who received the full brunt of the psychological stresses his clones had accumulated. "Uhhh," he groaned, vertigo gripping him. "I... err... would, but I don't think I have the energy left, myself..."

"Dammit," Sakura cursed. "Both of you! What is with boys and pushing themselves too hard?"

"You're one to talk," Naruto quipped, strolling into the clearing. "I seem to remember a certain kunoichi pushing _her_self pretty darn hard during the chuunin exams. Remember? When you had to protect Sasuke and me?"

The prone Saizo scoffed. "Sakura? She's the one who needs our protection."

"Lie back down," Sakura said sternly, shoving him roughly to the ground. She was almost done, but that last comment stung and she certainly wasn't going to let him get away with it. "I'll have you know... 'Saizo'... that I saved your life. That is, times other than just now."

The boy blushed at this and turned his head away.

Naruto, meanwhile, leaped into the trees to retrieve his younger self. Hopping gracefully down the trunk, he said, "I sure don't remember mastering the tree climbing technique this fast."

"Well, Kakashi sensei gave me a great training method to speed it," Kayaku explained.

"Really?" Naruto asked. "Well, he never showed it to me. Must be something he thought of recently. Lucky you."

Sakura completed her work with both Sasuke and Naruto in a few minutes, and then turned to Naruto. "So what's up?"

"Well, Iruka sensei helped me pick up my place a bit. It was pretty bad... there was something living in my refrigerator. I guess I shouldn't have left in such a hurry," Naruto admitted. "It's clean now, though, so these three can stay over there if they don't mind the lingering smell and cramped conditions."

"Forget it," Sakura said. "You're coming to my house."

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed. "What about your parents? What will they say?"

Sakura shrugged. "They left on business this afternoon. It wouldn't matter anyway, my mom thinks you're okay and dad wouldn't refuse orders from the Hokage concerning these three."

"Oh... okay... so where will we all be sleeping?"

The pink haired kunoichi rolled her eyes. "We won't _all_ be sleeping anywhere. I'll sleep in my room with Ume and you guys can take dibs on my parents' and the guest rooms."

"Ah..."

Ume's eyes watered with excitment. _Shannaro! Me and Sasuke kun sleeping under the same roof!_ Then her eyes slid slyly to Naruto. _And then there's him, too... sucks Kayaku has to be there._ She thought it odd that she had started calling Naruto's younger self Kayaku, now, but she accepted it. She just couldn't see the two as being the same person from the first moment she'd laid eyes on such a mature and competent ninja, and the separate names helped her in this view.

Thus the five ninja made their way to Sakura's house for a well deserved rest.


	4. Like A Mirror

**Team 7 Deja Vu!**

**Chapter 4: Like a Mirror**

Naruto, contrary to most people's beliefs, is not always the enthusiastic, spastic ninja he is during the day. In fact, were it not for his alarm or the rather extreme measures to which his ero master went to wake him up every day, he would certainly be happy to sleep till noon. When he woke to up to his alarm the morning of Team 7's first assignment in two and a half years, therefore, he could be forgiven for not immediately recognizing that he was not in his own home, but merely staying the night at his pink haired teammate's house along with the temporally displaced younger members of Team 7.

Having never been much for modesty, anyway, Naruto made his way out of the guest room and into the hallway clad only in his boxers and a cap. Doing his best to wipe the fogginess out of his eyes, he made his way down the hall to the bathroom. Now, it should be noted that his home did _not_ have a hallway of which to speak. In fact, his bathroom door was not far from his bed, but the blond boy was not quite cognizant enough to recognize it. He saw a door that looked like it led to a bath and he opened it.

The room was filled with quite a bit of steam. One breath of the hot air began to clear his head already. Nothing woke Naruto up like a good, hot bath. Now that his vision was sharpening, he noticed a distinct bright pink shape in front of him. The pink shape shifted and a pair of big jade eyes became visible underneath them. And below those eyes... "Oh... damn..."

Sakura froze in place, one foot still in the bathwater, when she heard that voice and saw the barely clothed form of her teammate. She looked down at her dripping wet and very exposed body then back again at her mostly disrobed friend. "N-Na-Na..." she stammered, blushing and bringing her hands up to cover her bosom and pelvic area. The other turned to flee, but it was too late. "_Naruto, you pervert!_" she cried, in one leap making it all the way into the hallway and bringing her trembling fist down upon his relatively tender head and sending him bouncing down the hall and into the living room. Fortunately for Naruto, she was forced to abandon her attack on her teammate upon remembering her egregious state of undress, and she retreated back into the bathroom.

The younger Naruto, already in his "Kayaku" disguise, looked up from his bowl of cereal at his older self through a pair of blackened eyes. "You too, huh?"

"S-S-Sakura's natural hair color," Naruto wheezed. "Is bald..."

"Saizo" looked oddly at the older boy. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Ume blushed. "Nothing! He's obviously delusional from the blow to the head." She trotted over to him and helped him up. "Are you okay, Naruto san? I can't _believe_ she would do that to you. _I_ would never do anything like that..."

"You just did half an hour ago..." Kayaku rebuffed, pointing to his left eye. The right one had actually been caused when he tripped running away and fell into a doorknob.

Saizo scoffed. "They're both idiots."

"Ooh," Ume gushed as she put a hand on the blond's stomach for "support." "Your abs are so hard and defined. Have you been working out?"

"_My_ abs are hard..." Kayaku said, poking his stomach. The flesh gave significantly. "Well, okay... so maybe it's a bit flabby," the boy said, pulling the skin out an inch. "But I've been working on it."

Naruto blushed a bit as he noticed the young girl paying rapt attention to the slight bulge in his boxers. It was morning after all, and certain biological _things_ of that nature did happen. It didn't have a thing to do with the fact that he had just seen exactly how much Sakura had developed after three years, and _certainly_ had nothing to do with the fact that Ume's hand which had been supporting him from the back had moved downward and was now beginning to squeeze one of the largest muscles on his body. "Uhhhh... thanks, but I think I need to go over there now... and... put stuff on." He quickly trotted back to the guest room.

"So," Ume said after a moment, going back to the kitchen area. "Mind if I sit here, Sasuke kun?"

"Whatever..." the boy muttered moodily.

"Uhm," Sakura began addressing Naruto. "I'm sorry about that bump on your head. I guess I overreacted. Heck, I bet you were too asleep to even know what you were seeing, huh?" She laughed good-naturedly.

As the five ninja walked down the road, the tall blond rubbed the back of his head where the swelling was finally going down. "Y-Yeah. No big thing," _Just keeeeeep believing that_.

Ume looked at her older self and back at Kayaku. She took a deep breath and said. "Yeah... I guess I shouldn't have overreacted, either." She looked dubiously at Kayaku, who grinned gratefully back at her. She didn't believe for a moment that the boy had anything _but_ perverted intentions. If only Sasuke kun had been the one to walk in on her and see her in all her glory... though... an older boy like Naruto might have been even better. She sighed lustfully. _Yeah, but what would there have been to _seea voice in her head that sounded more like Ino than her Inner self snickered._ Remember, the only oversized part of _you_ is your forehead... and that little pot belly you're getting._ She looked down at her exposed stomach and felt queasy.

"He told us to meet him here," Sakura said as they stopped at a corner. She looked at her watch. "Looks like we still have about three minutes."

"Good," Saizo said. "I want to get started as soon as possible."

Naruto chuckled. "Well, you've got a lot to learn, 'Saizo.' Kakashi sensei was late for your first meeting, and you'll find that his tardiness is habitual."

"Hmph," the disguised genin snorted. "They would never make such an irresponsible ninja a jounin..."

Half an hour later, Kakashi strolled up to the five ninja. "You're late!" Naruto barked.

The team leader scratched his head with a lazy-eyed expression. "Well, this time I was delayed by filling out the paperwork for the new team..."

"Today we start our first mission as a new team!" Naruto stated. "Be enthusiastic! Kakashi sensei! You've been like that for ages!!"

"Oh, let it go!" Sakura scolded. "There's nothing he can do about the fact that he has a face devoid of any enthusiasm!"

Kakashi looked somewhat hurt. _I'm... I'm losing my dignity, aren't I?_ He was distracted from the thought when he noticed what looked like a messenger bird flying at very swift speeds. _Strange_, he thought, _is that that one from the Sand? Takamaru, was it?_ He shrugged it off and led the five away. _Might be interesting, but I doubt it will effect us..._

The ninja entered the assignment office. It was about the same as it had been three years ago. A giant sign hung from the ceiling prompting everyone to "do your best," assorted elder ninja sat at their desks, and, of course, the Hokage was at the center of it all, handing out missions.

"Ehhh!" Naruto growled upon hearing Tsunade's offer. "That mission... no thanks!"

"What kind of response is that? Well?!" Tsunade tsked irately.

"Is he serious?" Ume whispered to Saizo. "Assassinating an 'A' class criminal? That's a tough mission!"

"He's still a genin after all this time..." the young Sasuke grumbled. "He should be happy with an A ranked mission..."

"Gah," Iruka exclaimed, clasping his head in exasperation. "You haven't mentally matured at all, have you?"

Sakura grabbed Naruto about the neck and bopped him on the head, about in the same place his previous wound was healing. "Sor... sorry, sensei! I'll sort him out!" _I... idiot! You have no idea how terrible the Fifth can be when saying those kinds of things... gaaaragh!_ Inner Sakura scolded.

Naruto scowled in Sakura's grasp. "The Third was more... sensible," he complained.

"Huh?!" Tsunade queried, beginning to hand the mission papers to Kakashi. "What did you say?!"

Sakura shrieked in horror, "Hey... calm down!" as she nearly wrenched Naruto's head off his shoulders in her flagellations. She was interrupted from her attempted maiming of her troublesome teammate by a loud bang.

"I... it's bad!" a voice shouted. "Godaime!!"

"What is it?" Tsunade inquired of the out of breath kunoichi. "You are _so_ loud..."

"The Sand's Kazekage has been taken by an organization called Akatsuki!" she declared. "We just received the message!"

The assembled ninja were shocked, even the young members of Team 7. After all, if a Kazekage was anything like a Hokage, it would take a powerful ninja to capture him. Naruto, in particular felt the sting of those words. _Gaara...? _he thought, the memory of Itachi and that fishy partner of his flashing through his mind. _Those guys again...?_

Tsunade withdrew the papers she had been about to hand Kakashi. "... Right, Team Kakashi, I will tell you your new mission." She looked meaningfully at Naruto. "You are to go immediately to the Sand, find out the situation, and relay it to Konoha. After that, follow the orders of the Sand and back them up."

Elsewhere in Konoha, Temari was lost in thought as she chewed her food. Her "escort" had left not too long ago as he had some troublesome business to attend. She reached for her tea to wash down the bite of dumpling in her mouth, but it suddenly cracked. She paused. She was certainly not a superstitious person, but... _I've just had a bad premonition._

She got up from the table and headed swiftly over to the restauranteur. "Hey, if that lazy ass comes back, could you tell him... 'it's troublesome, but I have to go back to the Sand on business.'" Receiving confirmation that her message would be relayed, she began to walk toward the city gates.

Reaching the woods, she wondered what it had been that made her want to leave so badly. She had a bad feeling, for sure, but she wasn't usually one to act on such unfounded gut instincts. It was like every cell in her body was screaming out that she needed to return. However, she wondered, would she be able to handle whatever the source of this feeling was alone?

As if to answer her worries, she heard a voice call her name from behind. Turning, she saw a flash of pink descend upon her, followed by two more familiar figures, as well as those three kids she recognized from yesterday. "Sakura? And Naruto and Kakashi? What are you three doing here? And with these kids?"

"I'm afraid these genin are my responsibility," Kakashi said. "Despite the dangerous nature of the mission we are on, I think they will be safest with us."

Temari's gut sank as she asked the next question. "And... what is your mission?"

"It's about Gaara," Naruto said. "He's been kidnapped by Akatsuki."

"What?!" she gasped. "Gaara...!" She thought back to the cup that had broken just minutes ago. "I had a bad feeling..." she murmured.

"It will take 3 days to reach the Sand from here," Kakashi said. "Let's hurry."

"Okay," Temari said, intent on joining them in their mission to save her little brother. They leaped back into the trees, racing against all hope that they could save the young Kazekage in time.

Meanwhile, Naruto thought back on his experience with Akatsuki. _To abduct Naruto kun_, Itachi had said, _Those were the orders given to us by our organization, Akatsuki_. The perverted sage had expounded on those words later, saying, _It's not you they want... it's what's inside you. The "Kyuubi" sealed inside you, I believe that they want to put that power under their own control..._ It was too frustrating. He couldn't stand the fact that Gaara had been taken just because he was a... "container." His anger caused him to lose track of his speed and pull far ahead of the rest.

"Naruto," Kakashi called. "Just because I said to hurry, you shouldn't split up the team. Don't get so heated... didn't Jiraiya sama just tell you that?"

The words slowed his pace, but he couldn't help but say, "I can't stand it..."

The young ninja were confused at the pain evident in the blond's voice, though Kakashi simply kept his silence, knowing the boy's secret.

"Even I know why they're after me and Gaara...!" he growled. His voice softened, though, as he addressed his cherry blossom haired teammate. "You still don't know, do you Sakura chan...?" He scowled, resolutely deciding to put caution to the wind and divulge that which had made him hated all his life. "Inside me... is sealed the demon fox, Kyuubi..."

Ume stumbled as she looked in shock at her version of Naruto. _He... he has the demon fox inside him? But... is... that why...?_

The white haired Sasuke looked studiously at his rival. _I see... so that was it._

"Me and Gaara," Naruto continued, still flying over the canopy. "Because we have monsters contained within our bodies... that's what they're after! That's what I can't stand! Just seeing us as monsters. I can't stand them looking at us whatever way they feel like!!" In this last sentence the anger and pain he felt was evident in the strangled sound of his voice.

Sakura remembered once seeing Naruto on the edge of a crowd of people... it was during the anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat and Yondaime's death, she remembered. But then everyone stopped and turned. She could remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. The blond kid, no older than seven, was the focus of the entire village's glares of hatred. She saw this and had wondered what the boy could have done to earn such hatred. She looked at the boy and saw his look of defiance slowly crumble into tears. He turned and ran from the assembled masses. _What a crybaby_, she had thought. _That must be why no one likes him._ She looked over at her younger self, ashamed, and could see that Ume was also remembering that... or something similar, and the regret on her face was evident.

"He and I are the exact same," Naruto said almost too softly to hear. "And he was... fighting, he was lonelier than I was...!" His teeth grit as he remembered hearing Gaara's plight... how even the one person closest to him wanted him dead... and how Naruto himself had been so lucky to eventually gain Iruka and later Team 7, and gain a purpose. "He was targeted by Akatsuki... just like I was before! Even so! Why is it always him alone that has to have such a hard role?!! Always him alone?!!" Even Kakashi felt his heart in his throat as he heard the passion in his student's voice. "... That's why! That's why I won't just sit around asking 'why'! This time, for sure, I want to save him!"

Temari, touched by Naruto's words, closed her eyes in gratitude. _Uzumaki Naruto... thank you!_

Sakura couldn't bear to be silent any longer. She closed the distance between them slowly and called to him. "Naruto..." she saw him jerk his head toward her voice and she hesitated, feeling her heart catch in her throat. "... You've gone through a lot, haven't you...? Uchiha Itachi... and you're his target."

Her voice was loud enough that the other ninja heard it, and Saizo's eyes widened. _My... brother? Naruto... and that guy...?_ He looked at Kayaku and then back at Naruto.

"I wasn't just training these past two and a half years," Sakura said. "I was looking through Tsunade's notes, and researched outside as much as I could." _There is something I wish to do! To revive my clan, and... to kill that man._ Those had been the words Sakura remembered Sasuke saying the first day Team 7 had been together. _There is nobody but me who can kill that man. I must become stronger than that man... here..._ She had wondered who it was... who he wanted to kill so badly that he would abandon the village. Who had destroyed his entire clan. "The enemy Sasuke kun wants to kill... it's really his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, isn't it...? A member of Akatsuki..."

"Sasuke ku--" Ume stammered, looking at Saizo. She remembered the day he had vowed to kill some mystery man. She'd thought it was so cool... but his own older brother? Saizo's eyes turned murderous before her eyes. She saw him stop on one of the branches, his body rigid. "Sa... Saizo kun!" she called, stopping herself on another branch.

The others stopped as well and hopped nearer to him. "What's going on, now," Temari grumbled. "Is the brat tired or something? I'll carry him on my back if I have to..."

Naruto hung back with his hand on his younger self's shoulder. He knew what Sasuke was upset about, and he also didn't want his younger self... well... saying anything stupid. Not that he thought he would. Kayaku seemed subdued himself with all the talk about the Kyuubi. He was also now very interested in Gaara.

Saizo looked coldly into the eyes of Sakura. "That guy... Uchiha Itachi..."

"Listen," Sakura said, "About Uchiha Itachi, he's..."

Suddenly, she leaped backward and down to the ground below as a barrage of shuriken rained down on them. The other ninja, too, were forced to retreat downward as more shuriken came from all directions.

"**That name...**" a dark voice said from the shadows. When they searched for the source of the voice, they saw two red globes shining from an inky black pool before them.

"Those... eyes," Naruto growled.

"**My ears are burning...**" the voice continued as the rest of his body melted out of the darkness, followed by a taller figure. "**Naruto kun.**"

The blond ninja would recognize the man who emerged anywhere, and his "friend," even more so. "Uchiha Itachi!" he hissed. "And fish-guy!"

The shark-skinned Akatsuki member snorted. "That's 'Kisame,' kid."

Saizo froze, scenes of his family's slaughter flashing before his eyes. The burning hatred he felt for this man in front of him was more than he could bear. Every cell in his body ached to kill him... but could he at the mere level of genin? When his brother had been his age, he was already a jounin, and now, with three years gained on him in addition to the nearly six year difference already between them, could he possibly stand a chance against him?

"It has been awhile," Itachi went on, heedless of the others. "Kakashi san... Naruto kun."

_The same Sharingan as... Sasuke kun, _Sakura thought, clenching her teeth. _This person is... the one who inflicts suffering on Sasuke and Naruto..._

"You bastard!" Naruto growled. "Not just me, but even Gaara?!!" He pointed threateningly at the Akatsuki. "_I'll beat you all down!!_"

"Naruto, wait," Kakashi began, going to stop his pupil from acting too brashly, but he was unprepared for the brash actions of another of his team.

Saizo leaped over the two older ninja and rapidly prepared his signature technique, pulling down his mask and putting his fingers to his lips, directing the stream of flame at his brother. The flame struck the Uchiha, and he seemed to be engulfed. However, out of the bonfire of his body flocked hundreds of screeching crows, leaving nothing behind of the Akatsuki member. "Wh-what?" the disguised Sasuke gasped, stopping in place.

Itachi put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Well, this is interesting." When the boy whirled around, locking eyes with him, he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, piercing deeply into the boy's psyche. "Who... who do you think you are?"

Sasuke looked down at himself, seeing himself clothed once more in his traditional Uchiha outfit. It seemed that his disguise had melted completely away, and he was dangerously exposed to his brother. He didn't care. "Aniki!" he growled. "I'll kill you!" He drew some shuriken and tossed them at the older man, dashing in behind them to take the S-class criminal by surprise.

Itachi snatched the shuriken out of the air easily, then caught his younger brother's fist and kneed him in the gut, causing him to collapse. "What? Ridiculous. You're not my brother, though you have the same face he did long ago. Your skills are not half as good as his when last we met... and even then they were a pitiful match. Your hatred... it's weak."

Sasuke heaved, but managed to keep his lunch down. He looked desperately around for his teammates, but he found that he was suddenly alone... nothing but blackness stretched out forever. "Ge-genjutsu..." he stammered.

The young Uchiha tried to retreat... to regroup, but his legs were caught by something. He looked down and was horrified to find that snakes were coiling up around his legs, binding him in place. "N-n-no!" He looked into the black sky and saw his brother's eye leering down upon him... mocking him.

"**Your attachments have made you weak. In order to attain true power you must sacrifice what you hold most precious to you in order to achieve that goal. Until then... you lack proper hate.**" Itachi's voice boomed. The snakes began piling onto Sasuke even more then, and they started to bite him over and over.

"KAI!"

Saizo turned and saw Sakura and Ume on either side of him. They had apparently worked together to dispell the genjutsu being used on him. "I... I... I don't need your help," he wheezed. "I'll kill him, myself!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Sakura snapped, pushing him behind her. "You're no match for him at all... you couldn't even break out of his genjutsu!"

"Che," Kisame snorted. "Troublesome little girl, isn't she? How 'bout I do you a favor and keep these guys out of your way for awhile?"

"Fine," Itachi said evenly to his partner. "But I want you to leave both that boy and Naruto to me..." he leaned closer and projected his voice in a manner that ensured Kisame would be the only one to hear. "And the black haired kid... watch out for him. He, too, is a jinchuriki..."

"Eh?" Kisame said in surprise, whirling to look at the kid with spikey black hair. When he looked closely at the face, despite the different coloration and lack of markings he did remind him of how that Naruto brat had looked when he first saw him. But how did Itachi know he was also a jinchuriki? He looked suspiciously back at his partner, but decided to just play along. There was little else he could do. "Okay! Kakashi!"

When the white haired jounin looked his way, he made several hand seals and belched a stream of water from his mouth. "Suigadan!" He shouted at the same time... though it came out a bit garbled as his mouth was still quite full of water. The liquid began to split and rotate as it neared Kakashi and formed more than ten water fangs. Kakashi was already in motion, pulling Kayaku and Temari out of harm's way.

The water fangs cleaved out a deep trench, and the shark skinned criminal kept pouring water into it until it had become a small pond separating Kakashi, Kayaku, and Temari from the other four ninja. The Akatsuki member alighted in the middle of his self-made pond and he began to generate a thick fog. "You might recognize this technique Kakashi... from a mutual friend."

The fog covered both sides of the pond, obscuring everyone's vision. Naruto crouched, ready for whatever attack was about to come. Several forms seemed to flit around him, but he simply didn't have the acuity to lock on to any one. Suddenly, he heard a scream close by him and he turned to see a large shadow streaking away from him. The feminine screech of "Sasuke kun, help!" identified the victim immediately.

Naruto began to run after Ume, but he was sideswiped by a large blade as rough as shark skin. "Sorry kid," the wielder of said blade chuckled. "But I promised I'd save you for Itachi."

Naruto snarled at the shark like man and leapt up, driving his fist into the Akatsuki's face. However, his hand passed through the head like water and the entire body dissolved into a transparent liquid. _A water clone!_ Naruto realized. Then he realized something else. Behind the clone were a pair of eyes. Dangerous, blood red eyes.

The fox boy kicked at the Uchiha, but his body erupted in a storm of spiders. He cried out in shock and began to beat the arachnids off of him. However, he could feel some on his face and they began to bite viciously. He smacked himself on his right cheek, crushing the spiders, and pulled them off. However, along with the spiders came pieces of his face. He looked with horror at the pieces of flesh in his hand, and as the skin of his hand itself began to flake off, revealing a familiar greyish clawed hand underneath, he shouted, "No! No!!" Half his face was now peeled away, revealing the dark face of Sasuke's second curse seal form underneath.

Sasuke's hand came up and grabbed Naruto by the throat. It squeezed with an iron grip. "Since I missed killing you that time," he said, referring back to their fight at Valley of the End. As he continued to squeeze, causing Naruto to feel quite nauseated, the zipper to his jacket came undone and a pink haired head rose from within, the jade eyes set within the frightening shadowed face glaring accusingly at him.

"...Why... why didn't you stop Sasuke kun," she asked angrily. "Even though I trusted you..."

Naruto stumbled back, in absolute terror. His breathing quickened and his heart felt like it would hammer itself out of his chest. The blood wasn't making it to his head... he felt like he would pass out, and yet he remained agonizingly alert, especially when the left shoulder of his jacket began to sprout silver hair and morphed into the masked face of his own teacher.

"You couldn't protect your comrades could you?" the head deadpanned with disappointment. "Even though I had faith in you... you let me down."

Naruto could no longer breath. This was unbearable. He lifted his left hand with the intention of tearing the heads off his body and throwing them away where they would no longer bother him, but then he saw an eye. A familiar, black ringed eye tinged with sadness.

"It's always you who profits," came Gaara's voice. "You're always the only one getting the good luck."

"Guh," Naruto choked, tears beginning to come down the eye that was still his. Why wouldn't this stop? Why couldn't they just leave him be? He wanted to fix his mistakes, but... how could he ever do it if they didn't let him go?

Itachi snorted at the young blond as he collapsed to the ground, his own hand around his throat and tears streaming down his face. "That should take care of the Kyuubi boy for a moment... while I take care of this... 'other.'"

On the other side of the pond, the battle was already begun. Ume had been captured by the Mizu Bunshin of Kisame, but Kakashi expertly freed her from his grasp. However, he quickly found that she had been bait to lure him in, and as the water clone burst and the liquid coalesced around him, he found himself frozen in midair. The water then expanded into a bubble, and Kakashi knew he had been caught. It was the Suirou no jutsu!

Ume plunged into the water, having been pushed free of the technique by Kakashi, and she swam desperately for shore. "Ka-Kakashi sensei!" she shouted. Suddenly, she was picked up out of the water and she found herself traveling through the air in someone's arms. Upon feeling the thud of landing on solid ground, she looked up into the face of her savior.

"Don't worry," Sakura said to her younger self. "I'll get Kakashi out myself." The pink haired kunoichi cursed herself for not being faster. She had followed the sound of her younger self upon hearing her scream, but by the time she got close enough to see her target, he had already captured the jounin. "It would sure help if we could see something, though..."

"Leave it to me," Temari said, brandishing her gigantic fan. With a wave from her fulling extended weapon, wailing winds swept the fog back behind Kisame, revealing him and his prisoner clearly. "There you are..."

"Sakura chan!" Kayaku shouted. "I already have a plan!" He held up a large shuriken.

Ume looked with confusion at the shuriken. "What? What good is that going to do? A ninja who can go toe to toe with a jounin isn't going to get hit that easy by some huge throwing star!"

Sakura, however, nodded in understanding. "I remember this trick... Naruto used it once a long time ago against a similar opponent. Maybe it will work again!" She held out her hand and caught the shuriken in her hand. She then carefully positioned one of her own and threw it, one shuriken in the shadow of another. As predicted, Kisame easily dodged the first and then leaped over the second. The second then transformed back into Kayaku, tossing the real shuriken.

At this point, however, Kisame spotted the technique and smirked. A water clone seemed to sprout from the surface of the water and caught the weapon easily. "Amateur! A trick like that might have worked on one of my old partners from the old days in Kirigakure, but against me its useless."

Kayaku's expression turned from one of shock to a smirk. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The Akatsuki, alarmed, turned back to the shore to see what the real ninja might be planning, but that Kayaku had disappeared as well! Suddenly he heard a splash from below and a strong kick was delivered to his chin. He lost his grip on the sphere of water.

Ume gasped. "Oh, wow! He's... he's so awesome! When did he get so cool?"

"He... he was always that cool," Sakura said. "We just never recognized it..."

Kayaku laughed as he fell back to the pond. "Never underestimate m--" he stopped, however, when he saw Kisame's body melt before his eyes. "Wha--?" he asked as he splashed into the water.

The sphere of water began to rotate and Kisame's true body rose from the pond. "Heh, heh, heh... you thought that was the real me? Too bad, kid. I don't who you are, but I have to admit, you're almost as clever as that Naruto kid... distracting me with your clones pulling off such an elaborate and flashy trick only to attack me from below." He smirked as a water clone leaped into the air with Kayaku's shuriken in hand. "It's too bad I'm going to have to kill you, now."

Naruto remained in shocked silence as he saw his own shuriken tossed back at him. He was going to die! There was nothing he could do to save himself, and it frightened him. However, seconds before the weapon could hit, he saw a flash of pink and a red blouse looming over him.

"_Nah!_" Sakura yelped with the impact of the shuriken in her back. "Ru... to..." Blood began to drip from her mouth. She looked down at Kayaku. "Naru... Ka... Kayaku. You have to get away. Get away, now!"

Kayaku's mind flashed back to Iruka. How he had protected him from the murderous Mizuki's attack at his own expense. He'd been unable to take care of himself, then, just like now. His teeth gnashed. How could he have let this happen to Sakura? He couldn't just run away now. He just couldn't. He felt an ominous tingling in his stomach and a rising wave of energy.

Behind Kisame within the cloud of mist there was a flash of red and a howl of rage. The shark faced ninja turned in surprise, and yet again there was a burst from his peripheral and he turned back to see a spout of water in front of him and the black haired kid from before landing on dry land with the pink haired girl over his shoulders. Looking into his eyes he saw them glowing red. "What is going on, here?"


	5. Brother, My Brother

**Author's Note: Sorry about this being so late. I was naively hoping I could extract the chapters I had done months ago from my dead computer, but it was for naught. And, of course, new apartment + new full-time job + fiancèe not much time to write. Oh, well, I've actually deigned to take time from my schedule to write you all a new chapter, so huzzahs all around.**

**Team 7 Deja Vu!**

**Chapter 5: Brother, My Brother**

Sasuke gasped with horror as his flesh was being slowly eaten away by his older brother's shuriken, disguised by genjutsu behind a swarm of locusts. He was desperate to survive, and, with the locusts shrieks melding together into the all-pervasive laughter of his hated relative, he was desperate to kill his torturer. _If only I could..._ he thought through his panic, _See!_ His eyes strained to catch a glimpse of his brother through the blackness, and to see the swift moving blades flying through the swarm, but it seemed impossible. He was no genjutsu user...

But then, he caught a glint of metal, and his reflexes took over. He weaved around the shuriken, and his body led him into a somersault and then he jerked to the left, right, and ducked before he knew what he was doing. The concept of where the shuriken were was vague, but his instincts knew enough to go by such subtle hints. Then he saw the shadow of his brother in the swarm and he leaped toward it, forming familiar hand seals all the while. He put his fingers to his mouth and spat a fireball, juked to the left, spat another, and then jumped before firing a final one.

Itachi dodged the fireballs, but the young Sasuke came down upon him like a falcon. The older Uchiha drew his katana and halted his time-displaced brother in his tracks. He impaled him through the gut.

The young Uchiha gasped and the genjutsu faded, revealing the landscape still enveloped by Kisame's mists. His brother grunted as he twisted the katana in Sasuke's gut. "So you've developed the Sharingan... but only two in one eye and one in the other. Proof that you cannot truly be my brother. When last we met, he had a fully developed Sharingan... even two years ago he had two in each. There's no way you could ever catch up at this point." He drew a kunai in addition to his katana. "You have no reason to be kept alive." He thrust the knife toward the boy's throat.

"Temee!" a familiar yet savage voice interjected, and a red claw shot past Sasuke's head, raking Itachi's face. The Uchiha leapt backward, shocked at the Kyuubi container's interruption and gingerly touching his damaged visage. Naruto leaped in front of the impaled Uchiha, two chakra tails blazing behind him and a growing sphere of swirling energy throbbing in his hand. "If you try to kill Sasuke, you'll regret it!"

The Akatsuki frowned and performed a few hand seals. "Jinchuriki. On the contrary, I look forward to testing my abilities against your power."

Naruto lunged forward, thrusting his now volleyball sized attack at the Uchiha, shouting, "Oodama Rasengan!" as his foe simultaneously announced, "Amaterasu!" and launched a torrent of burning darkness at the demon host.

Kisame shuddered and jerked his head to the side as the great outpouring of chakra blew the mists away, revealing both battles to either party. The sharklike ninja had no time to gawk, however, as this little "Kayaku" kid was dishing out a berserker attack unlike any he had seen. His speed was close to matching that bastard, Gai's, though his power was a bit less. The kid's chakra swirled around his Samehada, the blade consuming it, allegedly draining the boy's power. But he wasn't letting up at all. _Is he another jinchuriki or just freakishly strong? And what's happening over there with Itachi?_ He tried to hazard another glance, but the kid was all over him the moment his eyes twitched in another direction. _Kid has more bloodlust than Zabuza..._

Kakashi, on the other hand, could see just fine what was happening. Naruto was standing over a kneeling and injured, but still active, Itachi, with three chakra tails blazing. "Oh, no!" He felt in his pouch for the "insurance" Jiraiya had given him in case Naruto got dangerously close to the Four Tails form. However, another feral growl distracted him.

Kayaku was beginning to overpower Kisame, but his face seemed to be peeling off. Beneath his skin was revealed the characteristic markings of the Kyuubi jinchuriki, and his black hair faded to blond. On his backside, a single tail waved in the wind.

"Th-this is... another Naruto?" Kisame gasped. "But... even him I was able to stop with my sword."

Kakashi looked at Kayaku's tail and noted how it seemed to stretch uncharacteristically to the side. As if it were reaching for something. He then looked at Naruto's three tails as he chased Itachi about the forest. It seemed his tails were doing something similar; always pointing the same... "No!" They were pointing toward each other. "The Kyuubi... there are two separate foxes now, each with an infinite chakra... they must be... resonating somehow." He didn't know what would happen if that were the case, or if indeed anything would... but when it came to that demon, it was better safe than sorry.

The white haired jounin zipped across the water toward the younger Naruto. He was too worn out right now to go up against a three tailed Naruto, and he had a feeling if he suppressed one Kyuubi, the other wouldn't be drawn out any more. He interceded the clash between the demon container and the Akatsuki, blocking Kisame's Samehada and pressing Jiraiya's seal to Naruto's head. The demon chakra began to recede, but Kakashi noticed something strange. The tail was lengthening as the chakra field melted from his body.

"Oh, no!" Kakashi exclaimed as he saw the tips of his Naruto's three tails centimeters away from the past Naruto's single tail. He turned his Sharingan eye to Kisame. "Not that I care in particular what happens to you, but I'd suggest you run."

The shark-faced man looked puzzled at the tails, seeing them touch as young Naruto's aura finally diminished to the base of his spine. The single tail meshed with the other tails, leaving the now-unconscious Naruto and intertwining itself with its older brothers, slithering to the older Naruto as he and Itachi traded blows. "Wh-what...?"

Itachi threw a powerful right cross at his adversary's face, but found it halted by the boy's powerful aura. His eyebrows knitted in confusion upon feeling his flesh begin to burn where it contacted with the demon aura. The eldest Uchiha was thrust back then with a roar from Naruto, who now swayed four tails in the wind.

Naruto screamed in pain and fury as flesh began to peel off his body, and blood welled up out of his wounds. The skin still intact also became blood red as the capillaries within burst. His aura became so dark as to make Naruto's body a blood red silhouette in his fox-shaped aura. He roared again and the ground beneath him cracked.

"Impressive..." Itachi said, but he was unable to elaborate on his observation as the Four Tails Naruto was on him like a berserker. Itachi managed to dodge the first flurry of attacks, but then a second aura fox sprouted from the demon boy's side and took a shot at him in midair. He slashed the fox aura in twain, but when he brought his katana back, he found it was marred with singe marks and cracked. He tried to block another swift attack from the berserker Naruto, but the enraged ninja broke the katana's blade into pieces and swiped Itachi into a tree.

The Uchiha prodigy shook his head clear, holding his side. _Damn, the Kyuubi's chakra is truly formidable. I was reckless to waste my chakra with two usages of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Now I don't have the power to fight him like this._ His eyes widened in horror as he saw the Kyuubi-possessed boy gathering strange and evil chakra between his tails. "No... I'll have to risk it!" He performed some hand seals and black flames began to burn around him. He launched the flames with a shout of "Amaterasu!" and as Naruto swallowed his ball of dark chakra, he was enveloped in the sun-hot fire.

Then the Kyuubi's attack burst from the blackness. Itachi fell back, unprepared to dodge such an attack, when suddenly a large form descended in front of him. The ground shook and fierce light burned around the Uchiha, but he could see with his Sharingan. Itachi stood in front of him, his Samehada eating the demonic chakra.

Itachi's partner turned to his partner and smirked. "I knew I'd end up saving your butt one of these days. You owe me, now." He removed his blade from the ground where he'd planted it for leverage, and the red Kyuubi chakra swirled around it. "Okay, kid, I kicked that clone of yours' ass, so now I'm gonna take care of you."

Itachi looked toward Kakashi and the unconscious young Naruto. "Perhaps that won't be necessary."

Sakura had nearly recovered from her wound at this point due to her own medical ninjutsu, and she now looked upon Naruto's condition with a sense of dread. She could see the blood pooling around him and his howl sounded so... sad. Tears began to form in her eyes and she choked back a sob. She ran toward the howling demon, crying, "Please stop it, Naruto! You don't have to keep fighting! I can take it from here!"

"Sakura, no!" Kakashi shouted, dropping the young Naruto on the ground and dashing to intercept the kunoichi. The crazed demon container, not discriminating between friend and foe, shot his tails like a whip at the pink haired girl, but Kakashi pushed her out of the way, taking a tail across the chest while Sakura only got a slight grazing across the arm.

Temari rushed to the two ninja's aid, stepping between them and the approaching Naruto. "Get back, kid, I don't want to hurt you." _And I really don't want to get a taste of those tails of yours... those burns look painful!_

Sakura rose from the ground, wincing as the wound on her arm throbbed. She nonetheless stood beside Temari and stared into the glowing vacant eyes of her partner. "Naruto! Please, don't you recognize me? I'm your friend, Naruto. I don't want you to be in pain... so... just stop this!"

The Kyuubi-possessed boy showed no signs of stopping. He raised a paw and it came swiftly down on Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi gasped and squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the final blow. However, it never came. She opened her eyes to see Naruto's claws hovering over her face. _Naruto? Did... did I finally get through to him...?_

"Naruto!"

Sakura turned around to see her teacher glaring into Naruto's eyes. He had an intense look of concentration, and still looked quite strong in spite of the demonic wound. As she looked at his single Sharingan eye, she realized something. _It looks... different._

- - -

Kakashi was inside a basement dungeon. The floor was covered in blood; in fact, it was up to his knees. In front of him was a jail cell with a hulking dark shape contained within. The shape was holding a ball of light which held a familiar form. "Naruto!" he shouted. "You have to wake up!"

"**I must have it!**" the creature holding Naruto growled. "**Where is my other?! I must find it! I must consume it!**"

The copy ninja realized this was the Kyuubi. "Monster, let my student go! If you continue your path of destruction he will never release you again!" He gestured at the room's exit. "You're about to kill his friends. Those precious to him. He would never forgive you if that were to happen."

The Kyuubi roared. "**Shut up! I don't care! Where is it? I need it! It must be mine!**"

"This fox has gone insane. Is it the other Kyuubi's presence that's doing this?" He shook his head. "Regardless, I can't let you have Naruto." He rushed the jail, passing easily through the bars. "I'll make you let him go if I have to! Naruto!"

"**Away!**" the fox spirit bellowed, a toxic wind washing over the jounin, pushing him back.

"Gaah!" Kakashi exclaimed. His mask and clothing began to peel away from the acidic chakra. The flesh around his Sharingan also began to flake away. Underneath was fresh, healthy skin, devoid of the scar that had cost him his old eye. It continued to peel away, and as the last of his mask ripped apart, his new face was revealed.

"**Uchiha!**" the Kyuubi snarled. "**To think that another would have the gall to confront me. But your chakra is nothing like Madara's; you don't scare me.**"

Obito lowered his headband over his normal eye. "Who? Well, it doesn't matter, now. You may have banished Kakashi, but you won't get rid of me that easy, afraid or not." He frowned at the monstrosity. "I won't let you have my student." He rushed at the Kyuubi and dove into the ball of energy that contained Naruto. He grabbed the boy by the collar and slapped him in the face a few times. "Hey, Naruto, wake up!" He winced as the demon's chakra tried to eat at him, but he stood firm. He punched Naruto square in the nose. "Hey, dunce!"

"H-huh?" Naruto murmured as he opened his eyes slowly and looked into Obito's eye. "S-Sa... Sasuke?"

Obito paused for a moment and then smiled. His form morphed to that of the missing Uchiha and he said. "That's right, dunce, it's me."

"I... I've been looking for you," Naruto said. "With the power of the Kyuubi, I know I can bring you back."

"Listen, Naruto," Obito said. "I know you want to save me... but are you willing to do that at the cost of all your other friends? Would you sacrifice Sakura's life to save me?"

"Wh-what?" Naruto asked, coming more fully awake. "Of course not! I wouldn't sacrifice any of you!"

"Then wake up and protect her," Obito said. "She's in danger, and only you can stop it."

Naruto frowned. "Wh-what? What about the Kyuu—?"

"The Kyuubi is the problem!" Obito shouted. "That's why she's in danger. Look!" His Mangekyou Sharingan bore into Naruto's eyes, revealing the view from Naruto's real eyes. And injured and frightened Sakura was looking up at him as his body thrashed around. "Do you see? How you've injured Sakura? Are you just going to let this continue?"

Naruto's face contorted into one of rage and he looked up at the Kyuubi, who was glaring down with his demonic eyes at them. "Kyuubi!" he growled. "That's enough, take back your power! You're done here!"

"**Not so fast!**" the demon spat. "**I'm **_**not**_** done. I must have the other!**"

"I have no idea what that means," Naruto said. "But I'm taking my body back. Out of my way, Sasuke!"

Obito was shoved out of the boy's way, and he smirked at Kyuubi, dropping his Sasuke illusion. "Well, there you have it," he said. "The bonds of friendship can conquer even your infinite power." He looked on approvingly as Naruto fought his way out of the globe and splashed down into the blood—actually a manifestation of the Kyuubi's chakra—and sloshed his way through the thick fluid.

"**It won't be that easy!**" Kyuubi growled, and he released the chakra ball, shooting a paw at Naruto.

"Oh, damn!" Obito cursed as he fell from the sphere. He shot down as fast as he could, overtaking the paw and landing just behind Naruto. He caught the giant paw in his hands, and his legs nearly buckled from the power behind it.

Naruto turned back. "Sasuke?"

"Just go, Naruto!" Obito called back. "I can take care of this just fine. What's important is that you get out of here and save your friends. Save Sakura!"

The blond genin looked somberly at the Uchiha for a moment before nodding and turning. "Right. I can do that... Sensei." He sloshed through the bars and made his way to the middle of the room."

"**No!**" the Kyuubi growled, shooting its other paw through the bars. It came close to grabbing the boy once again, but at the last moment, a burst of powerful human chakra flowed from the boy's body, causing the blood on the floor to part and retreat back into the prison cell.

- - -

Kakashi woke a bit groggy. "Ugh... that demon banished me from Naruto's psyche. Guess my Sharingan isn't quite stro—" he stopped as he realized the world looked a bit... duller than it should. He had both eyes open, which usually gave him a disorienting feeling, as if one eye were normal and the other was colorblind, but now everything was just... colorless. _My Sharingan... it's reverted?_

"Naruto!" Sakura screached, bringing Kakashi's attention to her. "Please... stop!"

The Kyuubi-possessed boy was driving his head into the ground in front of a queasy looking Sakura. His demonic aura was diminishing and his torn and reddened flesh was now easily visible. Finally, the demonic aura disappeared entirely and he collapsed onto the ground. "What?" Kakashi muttered to himself. "How did...?" Suddenly, he felt disoriented as his left eye snapped into sharper focus, reading the flow of chakra and interpreting movements all around him at high speeds. He groaned and reached up to pull his headband back over his eye. _Guess it was too much to ask that I had somehow gained the ability to deactivate the Sharingan at will._

"Naruto," Sakura breathed, hovering over the boy, sending healing waves of chakra into his body. Her concentration was phenomenal as she frantically repaired his wounds and drew his stagnant blood out from under his skin. However, it was agonizingly slow. "Dammit!" she said. "The things I can do for him... they're just so stupid."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Well, I guess it's the thought that counts..." Her mouth curled up into a grin as she studied Sakura's flushed and passionate face. The kunoichi was doing her damnedest to heal the young man, in spite of her own wound, which looked like it was bothering her immensely. "I guess Shikamaru was right about you two..."

"Wh-what?" Sakura asked. "What do you mean?"

Temari chuckled weakly. "Well, you know how he likes to play games of analysis, right? Well, he has a whole file of personality profiles he's created, and he likes predicting how these personalities would interact in different situations..."

"I... didn't really know that, no," Sakura said distractedly.

"Ugh... I remember when he first brought it up, too..." she said, her mind drifting back to that day, not too long ago.

- - -

Temari stared blankly at her chuunin guide. "I what?"

Shikamaru showed her his file and gestured to a few items. "As you can see, I've categorized your personality into 29 unique dimensions and matched them up with several different profiles." He looked at her with that infuriatingly dispassionate face of his and chalked it up. "There's no escaping it. You obviously have a crush on me."

The sand princess' cheeks tinged pink. "Oh..."

- - -

"Yeah, totally pegged you two," she said.

"Meaning...?" Sakura asked, curiosity now piqued.

"It's pretty obvious, Sakura, that you really..."

"Ugh... what hit me?"

"N-Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. "You're okay."

"Yeah," Naruto said as he sat up. "I'm just... uh... where are those Akatsuki jerks?"

The two kunoichi looked around and saw no sign of the two black cloaked ninja. "Wh-what? Damn, they must have gotten away." She saw her younger self, Ume, lying on the ground, knocked out. "Huh." Looking about further, she realized that she didn't see Kayaku anywhere. "..."

"They've taken that... that kid," Temari exclaimed, having also noticed the young Naruto's absence. She turned to Sakura. "Who was that, anyway? He was wearing a disguise, and underneath he looked like..."

Kakashi pitched in. "He looked like Naruto."

"Huh?" Naruto asked. "You mean... Mini-me is gone? The Akatsuki took him?" He gnashed his teeth. "No! They figured out that he has a monster inside him, too. They took him like they took Gaara!"

Kakashi sighed. "Sakura, you take care of Saizo, now. I'll fill Temari in on what's happening."

- - -

Young Naruto dreamed fitfully of his past. His even younger self—shunned and hated by the people of his village. He also saw a young boy with ruddy brown hair and dark eyes sobbing in a similar predicament. Naruto was distracted briefly when Iruka put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. He now had someone who cared for him. But the other boy didn't. He was wailing even more uncontrollably now. But now Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura joined him. And the other boy collapsed to the ground. Even more of the villagers began joining Naruto, but the other boy was all alone, just like he had been.

He couldn't stand it. He went over to the boy and held out his hand. "Don't cry. You're not alone anymore."

The boy looked up with confusion, and then a cautious half-smile made its way across his face. He sniffled and wiped his nose as he took Naruto's hand. "I... I'm Gaara..."

- - -

Naruto jolted awake. It was bright and his vision was distorted, but he sensed a great multitude of people around. As his vision cleared he looked over and the boy from his dream lying behind him, but older. His eyes were beginning to flutter open and he muttered "Na... ru... to... kun..."

"Wha...?" Naruto rasped. Suddenly, a shadow came over him and Kakashi hauled him to his feet, spiriting him from the gathered sand villagers' sights. "Hey, sensei, what's going on? Where am I?"

Kakashi put his index finger to his mask in a shushing gesture and whispered. "You were captured, same as Gaara. They were trying to extract your Kyuubi when we interrupted them, and Gaara had already been killed by the procedure. Thankfully, an old kunoichi gave her life in exchange for his." He looked at the collapsed corpse beside Gaara. "Your older self chipped in a bit of life energy as well."

"Wow," the young Naruto gasped as he saw his older self and the Kazekage meet each other. He could see the understanding and compassion for each other in their eyes, even though the sand ninja's were ringed with black and cold to most observers. He glanced sideways at his disguised teammates. Saizo seemed scruffed standing beside the guy with the bowl cut and fuzzy eyebrows while Ume gazed in amazement at his older self, a hard blush on her cheeks.

Kayaku's eyes glazed over. So he had been rescued once again. He had once more failed to live up to the standard he had set himself. But, he considered, surely he one day would. After all, he could see his future standing right there in front of him.


End file.
